In past years the Institution of Surveyors and more recently the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute have undertaken projects that document or commemorate some aspect of the history of surveying and mapping. The current project, celebrates Tasmania’s first political boundary.

Tasmania’s first political boundary used the 42^nd parallel of latitude.  From 1804 until 1812 Van Diemen's Land was divided into the northern county of Cornwall and the southern county of Buckinghamshire. The division occurred as a result of Lieutenant-Governor Paterson being sent to develop a settlement in the north of Van Diemen's Land, on the shore of the Tamar River at Port Dalrymple. Paterson refused to go if he was to be under the control of Lieutenant-Governor Collins, who was based in the south at Hobart Town. To solve the problem, Governor King, based in NSW, but who had jurisdiction over the colony of Van Diemen's Land, divided the island using the 42^nd parallel.

Today, the 42^nd parallel crosses Tasmania's major highways on the West Coast north of Queenstown, in the Midlands just north of Ross, and on the East Coast near Cranbrook.

The project will see the installation of an artwork (8m high roadside silhouette - Tasmania's tallest public artwork) installed just off the Midland Highway and the installation of 12 interpretation boards, placed alongside the Ross Town Hall.  The interpretation space will explain the nature of boundaries, the significance of the 42^nd parallel in Tasmania's history, and highlight the role and functions of surveyors.  Additionally, the 42^nd parallel will be progressively marked wherever the parallel intersects with a farm fence or road reserve (currently 50 spots covering over 30km's has been completed).

The project also incorporates educational activities. Students from around Tasmania have investigated and mapped the local significant colonial historic sites in the Midlands region.  Once identified, the students used GPS to record tourist trails of Campbell Town, Ross and Oatlands as well as compiling accompanying field notes to provide a greater level of interpretation at each site.  The students have also created virtual tours of the town using Google™ Earth.

Additionally, historical maps and plans have been scaled and used to create a digital model of the convict Female Factory using ESRI's Arcmap Geographic Information System (GIS) software.  From the GIS it is also possible to identify and locate the positions of often long gone buildings from the 1800's within the township of Ross.

Ross GPS File          Ross Interpretation / GPS Notes          Ross Google Earth File

Oatlands GPS File          Oatlands Interpretation / GPS Notes          Oatlands Google Earth File

Campbell Town GPS File          Campbell Town Interpretation / GPS Notes          Campbell Town Google Earth File

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